Legal Matters

Well, speak of the devil. As we posted only a few hours ago, Marvel is in a very vulnerable PR position on the Gary Friedrich matter...so much so that they have sent both CCO Joe Quesada and publisher Dan Buckley to clarify and soothe at Comic Book Resources. As they point out, the matter is still under litigation and a settlement is being negotiated. Buckley and Quesada do a good job of trying to handle the negatives—they're pros—especially with this:

You can be sympathetic to Gary Friedrich's current situation—older, broke and in bad health—while still being alarmed over all the issues his court case has raised. My own email and IMs are full of variant views on it. So let's trace the evolution of this a bit.

ICv2 reports that Stan Lee Media has lost a legal battle over the rights to Conan. Although the big Cimmerian wouldn't seem to be much of a hot property after last year's movie flop, the folks at Stan Lee Media dive for any scrap of IP like a hobo battle for a bottle of Thunderbird.

Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has fired back at former collaborator Tony Moore, who is suing him for fraud. IN a statement released via his lawyer, Kirkman stated:

Even as the success of THE WALKING DEAD across all media has soared—it's basic cable's highest rated program—there has always been a bit of a silent partner on the book: co-creator Tony Moore who left the book after six issues. Although credited as co-creator on the series, he's been noticeably absent from promoting the book or TV series in its recent wild run of success. And now we know part of the reason why: he's just filed suit over his share of the profits of the book, profits he claims he has never had an accounting for and which he fraudulently signed away.

We've mentioned a few times here a lawsuit for copyright infringement by DC against an outfit called Gotham Garage, which sells replica Batmobiles—based on the '60s Batman TV show in particular—as well as other vehicles based on famed fantasy cars, like the Mach Five. If you were thinking of buying one, better hurry, because a judge has ruled that the Batmobile is subject to copyright.

Neil Gaiman took his victory lap after the settlement in his lawsuit against Todd McFarlane with comments to the Washington Post's Michael Cavna, talking about the copyright precedents set by all the various rulings over the years.

An epic battle of two of comicdom's most successful figures that lasted more than 10 years has ended, not even with a whimper but a settlement, as Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane have at long last agreed on how to share the rights to characters and stories Gaiman created for McFarlane's Spawn comic.

Once again, a creator loses a copyright battle against a major comics publisher with a major motion picture soon to screen. The artist is living in poverty, has health problems, and is forgotten by the general public. Sound familiar? Read on... it gets worse.

The ugly legal battle between Archie Comics co-CEO's Jon Goldwater and Nancy Silberkleit has escalated in recent weeks with new legal filings. And now a judge has banned Silberkleit from going anywhere near Archie's offices or contacting any of the employees.

Marvel has won a four-year legal battle over who owns the rights to Ghost Rider. On Wednesday a judge rejected the claim by writer Gary Friedrich, who co-created the character in 1972's MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5 along with Roy Thomas and Mike Ploog.

Stopping digital piracy has become a full-time obsession for most major entertainment companies; but the Stop Online Piracy Act now wending its way through Congress is probably not the way to do it -- a far too broad law that would give lawmakers powers to stop just about any activity they don't like via cutting off funding to the site and other zero tolerance measures. Although aimed at hard-to-stop foreign websites that recognize no copyright laws, opponents say the bill goes way too far in allowing copyright holders to choke off stuff they don't want with an arsenal of tools.